From Loserville to Titletown in the blink of an eye

It's amazing the things that turn up when you clean the office. Take our sports page from Dec. 12, 2000, kicking off a series on the sad state of pro sports in Boston. At the time, the city had gone 14 years without a world championship. Now as the underdog Patriots face the Broncos in Sunday's AFC championship, think back 13 years to a time when heartache was all we knew.

Take our sports page from Dec. 12, 2000. Eric McHugh, in his first big assignment as a Ledger sports writer, was given the job of exploring the sad state of pro sports in Boston.

Perhaps you remember.

The last local team to win world championship was the 1986 Boston Celtics. You know, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, the Chief.

Johnny Most: "There's a steal by Bird! Underneath to DJ, who lays it in! Right at one second left! What a play by Bird! Bird stole the inbounding pass, laid it up to DJ, and DJ laid it up and in, and Boston has a one-point lead with one second left! OH, MY, THIS PLACE IS GOING CRAZY!"

And that wasn't even the Finals.

The last Stanley Cup was skated around the Boston Garden ice in 1972. Orr, Espo, Cheesey, the Turk.

The Patriots? No championships, not even in the AFL. The Red Sox? Don't ask.

We called it Loserville, subtitled for good measure, Beantown Blues. "A five-part series examining the failure of Boston's professional teams to win a championship for their long-suffering fans."

And that's not all.

"Since 1986, Boston teams have been trying to bring a title back to this city," we said. "But somehow, some way, something always goes wrong."

The page is yellowed, but the misery is palpable. Woe is us.

Now? Not so much.

In 2001, Boston turned the page. In February, the Patriots shocked the NFL by winning Super Bowl 35. Titles in 2003 and 2004 earned the team a place among the elite.

Page 2 of 2 - Fans could hardly be blamed for clinging to their anxiety in October 2003, when the Red Sox extended their World Series futility to 85 years. If you thought losing to the Reds in 1975 was tough, losing to the Bucky Dent in 1978 was worse, and blowing Game 6 to the Mets in 1986 worst of all, it was only a prelude.

On the verge of exorcizing eight decades of demons, Grady Little sent a gassed Pedro Martinez out for the eighth innning of the Amercican League Championship Series against New York. The Yankees tied the game and Aaron Boone sent the Sox home for their longest, cruelest winter.

And then 2004. Down three games to none against the Yankees, humbled 19-8 at home in Game 3, written off by everyone, the team offered up a miracle in Game 4. Millar leads off the ninth with a walk off the great Rivera, Roberts steals second, Mueller ties the game, Ortiz wins it in the 12th, then wins Game 5 in the 14th. The bloody sock. Whipping the Yankees in Game 7, then sweeping the Cardinals in the World Series under a lunar eclipse. The ultimate moment in Boston sports.

The Sox led another parade through the street of Boston in 2007, after sweeping the Colorado Rockies, and the Celtics followed in 2008 with their 17th title behind Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo. Even when they lost to the Lakers two years later in a series they could have won, there were few tears among the fans.

Finally, in 2011, the Bruins rode goalie Tim Thomas to their first Stanley Cup in 39 years, winning a seven-game series against the Vancouver Canucks. They returned to the finals in 2013, falling to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games.

The Boston Strong Red Sox enjoyed another parade last fall after winning the World Series for the third time in 10 seasons.

That's eight titles in 12 years in all four major sports.

Now the Patriots take their turn again. After heartbreaking Super Bowl losses in 2007 and 2012, New England is two wins from redemption. The battered team that somehow finds a way to win is an unaccustomed underdog against the Broncos in Sunday's AFC championship and would undoubtedly be an underdog in the Super Bowl if they get that far.

If they fall short in Denver, think back 13 years to a time when losing was all we knew, eight trophies ago.